
UNITED STATES CENT 



INNIAL COMMISSION, 




International ExMMtion T 

PHILADELPHIA. 





THE principal buildings in which the International Exhibition of 1S76 
will be held are the Main Building, the Art Gallery, the Machinery 
Hall, the Agricultural and the Horticultural Halls. In the aggregate 
they cover a floor space of about 40 acres. 

The Art Gallery is located on a line parallel with and northward of the 
Main Exhibition Building 

It is on the most commanding portion of great Lansdowne Plateau and 
looks southward over the city. 

It is elevated on a terrace six feet above the general level of the plateau — 
the plateau itself being an eminence 116 feet above the surface of the Schuylkill 
River. 

The entire structure is in the modem Renaissance. The materials are gran- 
ite, glass, and iron. No wood is used in the construction, and the building is 
thoroughly fireproof. The structure is 365 feet in length, 210 feet in width, and 
59 feet in height over a spacious basement 12 feet in height, surmounted by a 
dome. 

DETAILS. 

Exterior — 1. The Main Front. — The Main front looks southward; it 
displays three distinctive features: 

First. A main entrance in the centre of the structure consisting of three 
colossal arched doorways of equal dimensions. 

Second. A pavilion at each end. 

Third. Two arcades connecting the pavilions with the centre; Central 
Section: 95 feet long, 72 feet high; Pavilions; 45 feet long, 60 feet high; Ar- 
cades, each, 90 feet long, 40 feet high. 

The front, or south face of the Central Section displays a rise of thirteen 
steps to the entrance 70 feet wide. The entrance is by three arched doorways, 
each 40 feet high and 15 feet wide, opening into a hall. Between the arches of 
the doorways are clusters of columns terminating in emblematic designs illustra- 
tive of science and art. 

The doors, which are of iron, are relieved by bronze panels, having the 
coats-of-arms of all the States and Territories. 

In the centre of the main frieze is the United States coat-of-arms. 

The main cornice is surmounted by a balustrade with candelabras. At either 
end is an allegorical figure representing science and art. 

The dome rises from the centre of the structure to the height of 150 feet 
from the ground. It is of glass and iron and of a unique design: it terminates 
in a colossal bell — from which the figure of Columbia rises with protecting hands. 

A figure of colossal size stands at each corner of the base of the dome. 
These figures typify the four quarters of the globe. 



1 Each pavilion displays a window 30 feet high and 12 feet wide : it is also 
ornamented with tile work, wreaths of oak and laurel, 13 stars in the frieze, and 
a colossal eagle at each of its four corners. 

The arcades, a general feature in the old Roman villas but entirely novel 
here, are intended to screen the long walls of the gallery. 

1 These each consist of five groined arches — these arcades form promenades 
looking outward over the grounds and inward over open gardens, which extend 
bad; to the main wall of the building These garden plats are each 90 feet long 
anc 36 feet deep, ornamented in the centre with fountains and designed for the 
dis ay of statuary. A stairway from the gardens reaches the upper line of these 
arcades, forming a second promenade 35 feet above the ground. Its balustrade 
is irnamented with vases, and is designed ultimately for statues. The cornices, 
the atticas, and the crestings throughout are highly ornamented. 

The walls of the east and west sides of the structure display the pavilions 
and the walls of the picture galleries, and are relieved by five niches designed for 
statues, the frieze is richly ornamented — above it the central dome shows to great 
advantage. 

The rear or north front is of the same general character as the main front, 

n place of the arcade is a series of arched windows twelve in number, with 

entrance in the centre; in all thirteen openings above, in an unbroken line, 

ending the entire length of the structure; between the pavilions is the grand 

.cony — a promenade 275 feet long and 45 feet wide, and elevated 40 feet above 

ground, overlooking northward the whole panorama of the Park grounds. 

The main entrance opens on a hall 82 feet long, 60 feet wide, and 53 feet 

hi^h, decorated in the modern renaissance style; on the farther side of this hall, 

ee doorways, each 16 feet wide and 25 feet high, open into the centre hall: 

tr is hall is 83 feet square, the ceiling of the dome rising over it 80 feet in 

h ight. 

From its east and west sides extend the galleries, each 98 feet long, 48 feet 
w de, and 35 feet in height. These galleries admit of temporary divisions for 
tl e more advantageous display of paintings. The centre hall and galleries form 

le grand hall 287 feet long and S5 feel wide, capable of holding eight thousand 
p arsons, nearly twice the dimensions of the largest hall in the country. From 

two galleries, doorways open into two smaller galleries, 28 feet wide and 89 

fi et long. These open north and south into private apartments which connect 

ith the pavilion rooms, forming two side galleries 210 feet long. Along the 

hole length of the north side of the main galleries and central hall extends a 

>rridor 14 feet wide, which opens on its north line into a series of private rooms, 

1 lirteen in number, designed for studios and smaller exhibition rooms. 
All the galleries and central hall are lighted from above; the pavilions and 

tudios are lighted from the sides. The pavilions and central hall are designed 
1 specially for exhibitions of sculpture. 




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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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